“Festivities at the IPO, Amazon patents drone for car charging, Qualcomm enters patent licensing agreement, Nokia’s mega patent deal, Qualcomm v. Apple in China, BananaIP cited in Forbes, WIPO General assembly concludes, No design treaty yet, Apple accused of willful patent infringement, Doctrine of Equivalence, Nuziveedu v. Monsanto, Patent tip of the week and more weekly news updates,” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm.
Patent Quote of the Week
“Good drafting makes for good patents; smart prosecution makes them better.” – Gaurav Mishra, Patent Associate at BananaIP Counsels.
Indian Patent Statistics
Last week was certainly a festive one! A slow down of activity was therefore well anticipated. There is a clear decrease in the total number of patent applications that have been published this week by the Indian Patent Office. A total of 710 patent applications have been published this week as opposed to 1591 applications last week. Of the 710 applications, 47 applications account for early publications while 663 applications are ordinary publications or publications occurring after the 18 month period. Grants have also decreased this week by about 31.18%.
Early Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 4 | 23 | 475% increase |
| Mumbai | 44 | 1 | 97.73% decrease |
| Chennai | 33 | 20 | 39.39% decrease |
| Kolkata | 21 | 3 | 85.71% decrease |
| Total | 102 | 47 | 53.92% decrease |
Ordinary Publications
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 451 | 119 | 73.61% decrease |
| Mumbai | 112 | 190 | 69.64% increase |
| Chennai | 316 | 222 | 29.75% decrease |
| Kolkata | 712 | 132 | 81.46% decrease |
| Total | 1591 | 663 | 58.33% decrease |
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (Previous Week): 1693
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS (This Week): 710
Percentage difference: 58.06% decrease
PUBLICATIONS UNDER GRANT
| City | Previous Week | This Week | Percentage of change |
| Delhi | 100 | 83 | 17% decrease |
| Mumbai | 22 | 9 | 59.09% decrease |
| Chennai | 87 | 62 | 28.74% decrease |
| Kolkata | 70 | 38 | 45.71% decrease |
| Total | 279 | 192 | 31.18% decrease |
Number of Applications published based on applicant city
Of the total 710 patent applications published this week, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad have contributed 214 applications in total. The total applications for each of the previously mentioned cities are as follows – 15 applications from Chennai, 88 applications from Mumbai, 34 applications from Bangalore, 2 applications from Delhi, 7 applications from Hyderabad and 68 applications from Kolkata.
| List of Cities | 1st January 2017 – till date | 14th October 2017 to 20th October 2017 |
| Mumbai | 1213 | 88 |
| Bangalore | 1038 | 34 |
| Delhi | 673 | 2 |
| Chennai | 680 | 15 |
| Hyderabad | 356 | 7 |
| Kolkata | 249 | 68 |
Total number of applications published by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 20th October 2017: 26199
- Early publications: 2422
- Ordinary Publications: 23777
Total number of patents granted by the Indian Patent Office from the 1st of January 2017 till 20th October 2017: 10279
- Delhi – 4236
- Mumbai – 1093
- Chennai – 3084
- Kolkata – 1866
First Examination Report (FER) Statistics
A total of 1908 FER’s have been issued this week. Applicants and their agents can check if any of their patent applications have been examined by referring the journal available here.
|
City |
No. of FER Issued |
| Delhi |
609 |
|
Mumbai |
198 |
| Chennai |
411 |
|
Kolkata |
188 |
| Total |
1908 |
Indian Industrial Designs Statistics
The designs office at Kolkata has registered a total of 230 designs this week; a decrease of about 8% in comparison to the total number of designs registered in the previous week. The total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date now adds to 7663 applications.
Total designs registered in the previous Week: 250
Total designs registered this Week: 230
Percentage Difference: 8% decrease
Total designs registered from the 1st of January 2017 till date: 7663
Interesting Patents and Designs
Amazon’s patent shows a way to charge your car on the go!
Amazon Technologies has recently been granted an interesting patent by the USPTO for an invention titled “Systems, devices and methods delivering energy using an uncrewed autonomous vehicle”. The US patent 9,778,653 in other words discloses a technology that enables a drone or UAV, help charge batteries of electric cars that are in need of recharging, anywhere and anytime.
The patent document suggests that Amazon has certainly given extra thought on how it intends to commercialize this technology. For instance, the specification discloses that the UAV may be configured to dock with the vehicle while the vehicle is or is not moving. For example, the rendezvous location for docking while in motion may comprise a particular length of highway which is free from overhead obstacles and relatively straight. Once the UAV docks with the vehicle, the UAV may transfer energy to the vehicle.
The abstract of the patent reads as follows: Devices such as vehicles, remote sensors, and so forth consume energy during operation. Described herein are systems, devices, and methods for transferring energy from an uncrewed autonomous vehicle to a vehicle such as a car. The uncrewed autonomous vehicle may locate the vehicle at a rendezvous location, and connect with the vehicle while the vehicle moves. Once the uncrewed autonomous vehicle connects to the vehicle, the uncrewed autonomous vehicle may transfer the energy to the vehicle.
Patent Licensing & Commercialization
Qualcomm enters into 3G/4G patent license agreement with Turkish firm
Qualcomm Inc. has announced that it has entered into a patent licensing agreement with a Turkey based firm known as General Mobile. A regional smartphone brand, the Turkish firm is also a partner of the Android One smartphone project developed by Google. As per the agreement, the licensing deal grants General Mobile the right to develop, manufacture and sell 3G and 4G complete devices which incorporate technologies that are covered by patents in Qualcomm’s portfolio.
What makes the deal interesting is that Qualcomm has recently been in the eye of the storm with Apple, Intel and other tech majors including government agencies such as the US ITC accusing it of unfair practices, especially with respect to licensing its 3G and 4G standard-essential patents on non-FRAND terms.
Nokia dishes out yet another mega patent deal
In what looks like one of the biggest patent deals of the year so far, Nokia has transferred a portfolio of almost 4,000 US grants to an entity called Provenance Asset Group Holdings LLC. The deal recorded on the USPTO assignment database in mid-September follows the announcement earlier this year that the Finnish telecoms giant was selling a separate portfolio of just over 4,200 patent families.
Patent disputes, infringement and settlements
Qualcomm versus Apple in China, iPhone sales ban sought
The Qualcomm and Apple patent war saga does not appear to be ending anytime soon. In a fresh legal onslaught, San Diego based chip maker, Qualcomm Inc. appears to have filed a suit in China seeking a ban on the sale and manufacture of iPhones in China. In its fresh suit, Qualcomm is asserting a series of three patents which aren’t standard-essential patents (SEPs) in the area of wireless communication. Experts are of the opinion this is the same legal tactic which Qualcomm had employed in the United States in order to challenge Apple’s allegations that Qualcomm’s licensing activities violate fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) obligations for such SEPs.
Apple asked to cough up 440 million dollars for willful patent infringement
The Court in Eastern District of Texas has asked Apple to pay nearly $440 million in damages to Nevada based Internet security company VirnetX. According to a press release issued by VirnetX, the Eastern District of Texas has increased the damages to be paid by Apple from $302.4 million in a prior jury verdict up to nearly $440 million for Apple’s infringement of patents covering secure communications in applications like FaceTime.
BananaIP Patent Updates
BananaIP and Dr. Kalyan Kankanala cited by Forbes
BananaIP Counsels and Dr. Kalyan C Kankanala were recently cited by Forbes.com in an article authored by Ms. Sindhuja Balaji. In the article titled “India’s Startups Are Filing More Patents Than Ever Before — Here’s Why”, Dr. Kalyan mentions how several startups don’t prioritize patent filing as an early stage activity and therefore end up losing the possibility of acquiring a patent at later stages. You may read the complete article here.
International News
WIPO General Assembly concludes – Design Treaty remains far from reality
The proceedings of the WIPO General Assembly drew to a close recently with some major decisions being made while at the same time deferring some other key decisions until the next meeting. While the assembly was unable to decide at the ambassador level as to which countries would host new WIPO field offices, and on convening a high-level negotiation to conclude a treaty on industrial designs, some major outcomes of the assembly meet this year included approval of the 2018/2019 budget, and a new mandate and work programme for the committee on the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
Plant Varieties News
Nuziveedu Seeds to pursue intellectual property litigation with Monsanto
Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd. has announced that it will not settle a long-standing intellectual property dispute with Monsanto Co. over genetically modified (GM) cotton, despite some other Indian companies having done so in recent weeks. Three companies – Ajeet Seeds, Kaveri Seed Co Ltd and Ankur Seeds recently agreed to resolve differences and end their arbitration proceedings with Monsanto. However Nuziveedu is in no mood to follow suit.
Monsanto is yet to settle the dispute with Sri Rama Agri Genetics, Amar Biotech and Nuziveedu along with two group companies, Prabhat Agri Biotech and Pravardhan Seeds.
BananaIP’s Patent Tip of the Week
Patent infringement and Doctrine of Equivalents
The doctrine of equivalents is a legal rule in many of the world’s patent systems that allows a court to hold a party liable for patent infringement even though the infringing product or process does not fall within the literal scope of a patent claim. If an accused product or process performs substantially the same function as claimed in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result, then such a product is said to infringe. Other tests that are adopted for checking equivalence are obviousness test, pith and substance test, in substance equivalence test, etc.
Author: BIP’s Patent Attorneys
Led by Senior Partners, Somashekar Ramakrishna, Nitin Nair and Vinita Radhakrishnan, BIP’s Patent Attorneys are among the leading patent practitioners in the country. They work with clients such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Samsung, HCL, Eureka Forbes, and Titan. They specialize in IT/Software, Electronics/Telecom, Mechanical, Automotive, and Bio/Pharma domains, and help clients with patent filing, prosecution, management and strategy in India, and across the world.
The weekly patent news initiative is a part of their pro bono work, and is aimed at spreading patent awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.
If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Patent Attorneys – [email protected].
